As usual, Bill Hobby has gotten to the heart of the matter. Regarding the state budget, he counsels balance as we look for ways to agree on a workable solution.

The state of Texas is constitutionally required to run on a balanced budget, as the former lieutenant governor knows better than most anyone. But this shouldn't be achieved by cuts alone, as Gov. Rick Perry and others in the Republican leadership are recommending. It should be balanced by other approaches.

The meat-cleaver approach is risky, especially when many of the cuts being discussed threaten the very prosperity of Texas going forward. And it is especially troubling to contemplate when funds are readily available in the state's rainy day fund to avoid cuts that bleed the most vulnerable among us and strangle our most important public institutions.

There is $9.4 billion in that fund, which was created specifically for emergencies such as the one now facing state government.

Even if we are among those fortunate enough to live in gated communities and send our children to private schools, we all have a shared interest in keeping state government functioning smoothly and efficiently.

We breathe the same air. We drink the same water. We drive the same roads. One way or another we all share in paying the bills for children who go without health insurance. These functions are all threatened by massive across-the-board cuts in Austin.

We worry especially about the impact on public education and public health. Even if our children never spend a day in the public schools, we benefit directly from schools that educate the children of our fellow Texans. Indeed, our continued prosperity rests on continued support for quality education that will bring skilled workers into our economy in the years ahead.

And if health insurance benefits for children are cut, we will all face the consequences.

We have assumed from the beginning that there is an element of gamesmanship in Gov. Perry's hard-line approach that the budget must be balanced by cuts alone. They can't be, and we believe the governor knows that. If he has remaining doubts, we urge him to sit down for a cup of coffee with Bill Hobby and listen to the voice of experience.

It's raining in Texas. We have a well-stocked rainy day fund. It was never intended to be used as a platform for this or any other governor to further personal political ambitions.

No, it was meant to be used to help Texans and their state in its hour of need. That hour has come.